Originally Posted by
oldbobcat
I worked at a Walmart for a few months. Customers would return these bikes for myriad reasons--slipping handlebars and seatposts, shifting problems, brake problems, broken cranks, wheels out of true, hubs that stopped turning, flat tires, . . . As long as they came back within 30 days, they got their money, and the bikes went directly into the crusher. Return them to the manufacturer for a refund? Are you kidding? It cost more to ship these things from China than the labor and parts that went into them.
Originally Posted by
Schweinhund
I've worked as a third party assembler at the big W and let me tell you assembling bikes in the dark outside in the rain for 3 dollars each doesn't really put you in the christmas season.
There's a pile of dead bikes in the assembly area that are used for parts. crap for the crap.
I know guys who assemble 80 bikes a day. Think there's any quality there?
Originally Posted by
fooferdoggie
the bikes at Walmart are not all that much cheaper overall. like ya 140.00 for a little kids bike. my daughter bought one for our granddaughter. but our little girl was only 30 pounds at 4 and could not peddle the thing as it was so hard. so I went to trek less then a mile away and could not resist getting her a bike. a month later no training wheels. so her birthday is up and she is out growing the 12" so we took her there to test the 16" bikes she loved it. now the first time was 300 but we got 1/2 off with the trade in of her last bike so now they are about the same cost but the quality is much much better.
Our shop works on a lot of Big box store bikes, both new and used.
Walmart no longer sends them to the crusher if a legit charity in town wants them. We actually pickup from our local Walmart 8-12 bikes every two weeks +/-.
They will not re-sell a returned bike and their "assemblers" are not mechanics, they would not even change a defective tube. Most of these bikes are returned due to poor workmanship of the assembler, misadjusted DERs, crushed cables, handlebars loose, chains too tight, you name it.
The ones we get with a bent frame or fork are dismantled for all the other "new" parts. We get about 90-95% rolling again. True they are not Treks (or insert your favorite brand here) but to a kid that doesn't have a bike, it's gold. With decent care and maintenance, they can last for years.
We have noticed for the last few years that, especially on the smaller bikes that, the chains are set too tight from the factory (bikes in boxes) and this year, that the one piece cranks are also set too tight, both easy fixes and gets a bike into am kids hands that their parent couldn.t otherwise afford.
I welcome the poor assembly, it is lining our shop with plenty of bikes.